Does it all seem hopeless to you?

[MineralMan]

Bernie didn't win, so the whole thing's a total loss, and people should just retreat again and give it all up as a lost cause? Is that how it seems?

Well, I say bullshit to all that. That attitude is what got us 2010 and 2014. We didn't get the big change we wanted, so we opted out of the process and let whatever happened happen.

Amateur hour. Revolutions don't happen in some random election year. Change doesn't happen during one election campaign season. The effort isn't a one-shot deal that either succeeds the first time or is forever gone.

We'll elect Hillary in November, most likely, since Donald Trump is a big nebbish. We might get a majority in the Senate. That's even if all that energy that went into the Sanders campaign dissipates and the people who were excited stay home in November. We'll probably win anyhow.

But, imagine a different result. Imagine working your asses off to elect even more progressive or just Democratic Senators and House members in November. Then, imagine taking all that energy and electing a bunch more in 2018. Wrap your mind around Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. Picture in your mind that congress sending bills to the White House that actually move the country forward.

Think about getting involved in local Democratic Party activities and becoming local party leaders. Consider the benefits of nominating and electing new voices in state legislatures all across the country. Imagine having majorities in more states in 2020, when the next census happens. Think about getting rid of gerrymandered district boundaries in 2021.

Imagination is a good thing. When it's combined with enthusiasm and hard work, stuff can happen. It's not about 2016. It's not about any single election or any single office. If we want change, we have to make things change, not just once, but on a continuous basis, election after election. Revolutions and change are hard.

We can do stuff if we want to. But that stuff won't happen just because we want it to. We have to make it happen and keep it happening. We have to get out there, year after year and election after election and make sure it happens and protect it when it does.

Will we? I don't know. I'll be 71 in July. I've been trying for at least 50 years. I'm getting tired. So, will you? That's a better question. Or, will you just shrug it off and go back to whatever it was you were doing before this primary season? I guess the future's up to those who will live in it. Good luck, folks. I hope you get it done better than people have gotten in done in my active days.

It's up to you all, now. Keep trying. Keep working. Do the hard thing. Make change. Good luck.

[Romulox]

1. Where would be without this board's Dr. Pangloss? nt

[MineralMan]

2. Can't say. I try, though.

Thanks for the snark, though. I depend on that to keep me going.

[rug]

22. Where would Pangloss be without Paquette?

[Juicy_Bellows]

3. Kids, I think it's time to thank your father.

&list=RDg9E6fxvUD7w#t=6

[MineralMan]

6. And thanks for taking the time to reply and

find a YouTube video to post. I'm honored by your hard work.

[Juicy_Bellows]

7. Father's day is coming up - you're welcome!

[Peacetrain]

4. Move over MM

Here is a pot for your head.. let me help you dig a foxhole.. you know the incoming is on the way.. Nice op

[MineralMan]

5. Oh, hell, I have an impenetrable force field over my little hole.

I gave up giving shits about snarky responses on DU years ago.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. I'm with Mark Twain:

“History has tried hard to teach us that we can’t have good government under politicians. Now, to go and stick one at the very head of the government couldn’t be wise.” Mark Twain

[HumanityExperiment]

9. How do HRC supporters deal with this in GE?...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clinton-donor-sensitive-intelligence-board/story?id=39710624

How do you counter bad leadership decisions AND the Clinton Foundation pay to play associations?

As a DEM party what changes must be made to facilitate getting better than getting bogged down by these continuing debacles?

I read your post as a generalization which is fine but we deal in a reality of specifics when it comes to GE and politics, OPTICS are everything and these aren't good optics to kick off with...

So, let's move from generalizations to specifics, using this example... what would you do?

[MineralMan]

11. What I always do - Work to elect better and better people

to every office I can. They'll be moving up the ladder over time. I'm a long-term thinker when it comes to politics. That terrific state house member I helped get elected may be in Congress one day. In the meantime, he votes progressively in my state, and helps us improve things here.

2016 is one election. There will be another one in two years, and every two years after that.

The President in 2016? I'll be working to elect Hillary Clinton. It's a binary choice. I work to get the better choice elected.

So, that's what I'll be doing over the next five months. Then, I'll start working on 2018. How about you? What will you do in the short and longer term. You asked. I answered. I asked. Will you answer?

[HumanityExperiment]

16. top of the ladder...

but your point misses since we are talking top of the ladder NOW, this issue is occurring real time on that top of the ladder politician NOW

If the 'pool' you're dipping from is tainted then the one with the least 'taint' is still tainted... why aren't you working to clean up the very pool you're choosing from?

'What will you do in the short and longer term. You asked. I answered. I asked. Will you answer?'

I'm working to correct the very pool we pull from, that's much more difficult work than what you posted about, if you don't correct the very source you choose from then you're not really electing principled people to the ideology of the party

That's my answer, or at least the quick summary of it...

[Bettie]

17. So, in working to elect better and better people

your belief is that Clinton is better than Obama?

[Fumesucker]

10. Mr Sunshine after a year of nothing but Rain

Amazing the personality transformations going on around here...

[MineralMan]

12. I've been posting the same thing here for 8 years now.

Always pushing for the election of Democrats at all levels. Maybe you are only reading a minority of my posts, eh?

[Fumesucker]

15. Keep on the Sunny Side of Life

[pampango]

13. Conservatives love it when liberals give up. That's what they are hoping for. n/t

[Scootaloo]

14. Actually yes, but for reasons you don't touch on, and that you are not able to actually comprehend

I don't mean that as a put-down MineralMan, but at 71, I'm afraid you just... don't have quite the position to understand what's coming for young'uns like myself, and children I may have.

The world is changing. I don't mean that in some sort of figurative, semi-poetic sense. I mean the world itself, literally the planet Earth, is changing. And that change is going to accelerate and snowball before my years are up. People are going to suffer and die over it, whether through direct impact of the storms, the droughts and famines, or diseases, or due to the conflicts that these base causes will engender.

You will be dust by then, so while I suppose you can imagine the scenario, it... doesn't hit home for you. Nor does one simple frightening fact.

It's unavoidable. We can't stop it. It's set. And while we could put up some things to mitigate the damage, we're clearly not going to. And there are people who can be blamed for that. They have names and addresses. But... what would be the point? It's set, that's how it is.

That's the cloud over our heads, MineralMan. That's our future. There is no magic wand. There is no breakthrough technology. Aliens aren't going to save us, nor are gods. Politicians certainly won't, I imagine they'll keep scrabbling for oil donor dollars long after the pumps actually run dry.

And think about that too, MineralMan. Right now, 2016, we're literally blowing up bedrock to try to huff a little natural gas. We're looking at turning the entire province of Alberta into an open-pit sludge mine. It's like a Paolo Bacigalupi story coming to life. These measures are seen as economically viable means of gaining petroleum. When you were my age, this would have been absolutely crazy. No oil company would have invested in fracking, much less sandy bitumen. But these are now top-shelf options. Coal is gaining ground again. All this means is that peak oil has not only come, but has actually gone. I hope you understand how much the modern world relies on the stuff. And we're still finding newer, shittier ways to burn worse versions of the stuff, just to keep that going. Which plays into the initial problem.

Am I hopeless? Yeah a little bit. Not because Bernie Sanders lost, but because I know I am going to live into the first real global societal meltdown and collapse. The engine of the modern world is running dry, its components are garnering irreparable damage, and the longer we try to keep to going the worse everything is going ot get. BUT we have nothing set up to enable us to stop, to change gear, to move to something else, because we're so dead-set on what we already have.

[HumanityExperiment]

18. spot on!

excellent reply!

[RKP5637]

21. I think this is well said. And no offense against anyone, but old dog tricks will

likely not work in the future.

[Xyzse]

19. As mentioned, local races is where I have put my eyes on at this time.

I've already accepted the outcome that the Democrats will likely flounder in the General Election and as such I wish her supporters luck. I've mentioned quite often, that as hard as it is to say, I will most likely vote for her in November. Anything beyond that makes me complicit to the behavior, corruption, pandering and lies promoted by her campaign and the DNC themselves, so I won't do it. Voting for her while holding my nose gagging is enough.

I will advocate for local races, and that is what I can work for. Either Presidency would be a disaster, but even then I really still doubt she could win. Much of the behavior here, merely strengthens that point of view as much of it insults those that could have been on the fence. I have also mentioned prior that even if she comes out ahead in terms of what type, how the magnitude of hardship those two would cause, it is still not enough for me to be comfortable with. Which is pretty much why many I know feel, what's the point?

Campaigning on fear, and merely stating that they are better than their opponent is not enough, and a losing strategy. It is the same type of campaign that lost in 2010 and 2014, where I got emails saying "The End is Near" while soliciting donations. Way to depress the voters.

As such, feel free to insult Independents and tell them that they are not wanted, unnecessary and idiots. So I am quite curious as to how they would be able to turn this around, particularly if she starts trying to pander from the center. Gleefully watching the opponent seem to implode on themselves feels great, but counting on that to win is crazy. It is why I never went after Clinton for her emails or transcripts(hoping for an indictment was also insane as you just can't count on that), they were not verifiable so I went after that which I can.

All of this brings me to the Local races, donating and volunteering for the Individual candidates themselves.

So, thank you for advocating for local races as that is pretty much what I can actually try to convince people to work for. On that note, I can only reiterate the importance of local.

[cali]

20. keep up with the condescending crap.

as if anything could ever stop you. You really haven't changed from when I first read your posts on another site.